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THE EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS 
OF THE YEAR 

(1903-1905) 



BY 



HON. HOWARD J. ROGERS, LL. D. 

First Assistant Commissioner of Education, 
State of New York 



Read before the National Council of Editcation, Asbury Park, 

July jrd, 190^, and reprinted by the courtesy of the 

Educational Review from the advance sheets 

of their issue for September, igo^ 






1 



Mk. II<>\VAI{1> J. ROGCRS 



rriisT Assistant Commissioner 



ICUITATIOS l>i:rA UTMENT 

State «r Nkw Vouk 



Z 

J' 



oO 



EDUCATIONAL REVIEW 

SEPTEMBER, igos 



EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS OF THE YEAR ^ 

1903- 1905 

It is a difficult task to cut out a cross-section of a year in 
one of the great fields of human endeavor, and even where 
aided by the most powerful microscopes of inference and 
imag-ination, label this part progress and that failure. So 
difficult is it that, altho an added year of grace is permitted me 
by the non-presentation of a similar paper at last year's meet- 
ing, had I fully realized it someone else would have addressed 
you to-day. Evolution is a slow process ; evolution in educa- 
tion one of its slowest forms. The field is so overlapped, 
its processes so involved and dependent, that all hope of 
traversing it crying eureka at many objective points is futile. 
The germ of the greatest educational movement of the century 
might lie within our vision undetected. I want, therefore, to 
preface this paper clearly with the statement that it is made 
up of facts and ha^apenings of the last two years, chosen for 
their apparent importance but presented in a fragmentary man- 
ner. Many of the questions treated demand for proper analy- 
sis a discussion which would transcend the limits of the entire 
paper, but which must obviously be presented in suggestive 
outline. Many others are barely mentioned or omitted alto- 
gether. To the many friends both at home and abroad who 
have assisted in the presentation of the Report by their valu- 
able suggestions, I wish to express my obligations ; and par- 
ticularly to Professor Sadler of England, Professor Lagerstedt 

' Paper read before the National Council of Education at Aslniry Park^ 
July 3, 1905. 



I lO EdMcational Review [September 

of Sweden. Inspector-General Gilles of France, and Director- 
General van Overbergh of Belgium, thru whose valuable 
and exjjert advice it has been possible to pick only those facts 
and tendencies in their respective countries which are of the 
greatest importance and lie clearly within the scope of this 
Report. 

THE MOSELY COMMISSION 

One of the most important events which has taken place in 
recent educatitjnal history is the visit of the Mosely Commis- 
sion of England to this country in Octol>er, November, and 
December, 1903. The two reports which were the result of 
this visit, one made by the Education Commission and the other 
by the Industrial Commission, have created intense interest 
both in England and in this country, and are regarded here 
as an eminently fair and just criticism of the state of public 
education in the United States. Mr. Alfred Mosely, a Mem- 
ber of Parliament and a man prominent in the commercial and" 
financial world of England, brought to this country twenty- 
seven educational experts to inspect and report upon various 
features of the educational and social life of the United States. 
Mr. Mosely frankly states that his inspiration for this un- 
wonted enterprise was his admiration for the brilliant exploits 
of American engineers in the development of the diamond 
mines of South Africa some fifteen or twenty years ago. 
" The success of these engineers," he says, '' turned my atten- 
tion to the United States, and some years ago I paid my first 
visit there for the purpose of seeing what sort of country it 
was that was responsible for sending so many level-headed men 
to the Cape. ... So far as I was able to ascertain the form 
of education given in the United States was responsible for 
much of its success, and I returned home determined if possible 
to get together a party of experts to visit the country and test 
the soundness of my conclusion^." 

The immediate opportunity, vhich was an additional incen- 
tive for Mr. Mosely to carry out his project, was the passage 
of the Education Act in England in T902, and the possibilities 
which arose under it for the development of education along 
practical lines. He traced a similarity between education as 

Gift 
Author 
(Person) 



1905] Educational prog7'ess of the year 1 1 1 

controlled by the various States of our Union and the control 
vested in the counties of England under the new statute. 
There was thus added as a further motive the possibility of 
finding- many things in our educational system which would 
prove of value to England. 

The subjects of investigation placed before the Mosely Com- 
mission were: (i) The development of individuality in the 
primary school; (2) the social and intellectual effects of a 
wide distribution of secondary education; (3) the effect of 
specific instruction given in (a) business methods, (b) applied 
sciences, (4) the present state of opinion as to the value of 
professional and technical instruction of university rank, de- 
signed with special reference to the tasks of business life. 

The Commission visited New York, Washington, Baltimore, 
Philadelphia, New Haven, Boston, and Chicago, and at the 
latter place broke up as a body, and the individual members 
proceeded to every part of the country in search of information 
applying to their special fields. 

The report of the Education Committee was published in 
1904 and covers four hundred closely printed octavo pages. 
It is prefaced by a statement by Mr. Mosely, and contains a 
joint report signed by all the members of the Commission and 
a special report by each member of the Commission. In this 
report is expressed the belief that general education is of value 
both to the community at large and to the commercial, indus- 
trial, and agricultural service of the state; that in competing 
with American commerce Europeans will be called upon to 
face trained men gifted with both enterprise and knowledge; 
that the British public must be impressed with the absoiu_ ..-.^■r^ 
of immediate preparation to meet such competition ; that won- 
derful spirit animates both teachers and pupils in our schools, 
and that the absence of class prejudice and of religious difficulty 
serves to facilitate the work of the schools ; that there is a very 
close connection between theory and practice, especially in the 
scientific field ; that the important part which manual training 
is assuming in our public schools is of high value as an educa- 
tional discipline; that in no country has there been such mar- 
velous liberality displayed towards education both from public 



1 1 2 Educatwnal Review [September 

and private sources; and that the entire work of education in 
elementary, secondary, and higher fields is organized and co- 
ordinated in such a way as to secure most harmonious working 
and avoid duplication. 

Much frank criticism, in most cases well deserved, is mingled 
with the freely expressed admiration. Our teaching of foreign 
languages seemed to the Commission particularly slipshod and 
to partake of antiquated methods. Some disappointment was 
expressed that manual and industrial training does not seem 
to have played any great part in our commercial or industrial 
development. The answer to this criticism is under two heads : 
first, very few of our industrial schools and our manual training 
departments are over ten years old. which is altogether too 
short a period to exert any marked influence on industrial 
methods ; second, the theory of public education in the United 
States is based upon the belief that our prominence in indus- 
trial and commercial work is due not so much to any form of 
special training in the arts and crafts as to the liberal training 
Avhich is given to e\'ery child in our public schools. It is a 
safe rule of conduct that if a child is fitted during his eight 
•elementary years for anyfhiiig, he will be bound as a wage- 
earner to l>e fit for somcfliiiig. 

It is im]:>ossible in this address to more than hint at some 
few of the points brought out in the papers of the report, or 
to state any of the conclusions. Every one of the twenty-seven 
papers is worth careful attention and study on the part of our 
educational public, and without in any sense seeming to dis- 
criminate at all. the reports submitted by Mr. Henry E. Arm- 
.. ^-:,. Mr. Artlnu- W. Black. Prof. T. L. Papillr^n. and John 
Rhys are specially valuable in their keen observation, just criti- 
cism, and valuable inference. Mr. Arthur W. Black sums up in 
three concise sentences as follows : " The great facts remaining 
with me as a result of my educational investigations -in America 
are, first, that public opinion is much more strongly in favor 
of education than in this country. Second, that the scholars 
in America take a keener interest in their studies than is gen- 
erally apparent here. Third, that the teaching given in the 



1905] Educational progress of the year 113 

elementary schools produces a mental alertness and readiness of 
mind to a greater extent than is secured in this country." 

The reports are a pleasure to Americans because the tone is 
complimentary and because they concede in the premise the 
commercial and industrial supremacy of this country and seek 
to find in our educational system the reasons therefor. The 
reports are of value to Americans because they frankly present 
and criticise our shortcomings^ and while the balance on the 
ledger is largely in our favor, a careful study of the debit side 
is of the utmost benefit to our educational public. 

It would be extremely fortunate if in other fields than educa- 
tion 

There wad some Mosely the power gi'e us 
To see oursels as others see us. 

SCHOOL LEGISLATION 

During the legislative period of 1904 there were over one 
hundred and twenty-five enactments in the various States affect- 
ing education, but nearly all of them were of such local or in- 
cidental character as not to call for special mention. Three 
important acts, however, in the winter of 1904, affected par- 
ticularly State educational systems, and two in the winter of 
1905 brought about most important reforms in city adminis- 
tration. The three relating to States were the new school codes 
of New Jersey and Ohio, and the so-called unification act of 
the State of New York. In the two former the changes made 
by the revised codes were so voluminous as to forbid anything 
like extended discussion here, tho in Ohio there were many 
radical changes, mostly in the direction of principles advocated 
by this Association. 

The dual system of school administration, which had been the 
development of a century's growth in the State of New York, 
was abolished by the legislature of 1904. The University of 
the State of New York, established in 1783 and governed by 
a board of Regents, had supervisory powers over the colleges, 
universities, professional and technical schools of the State, and 
certain legally defined powers over the high schools and acade- 
mies. The Department of Public Instruction, organized in 



114 Hdiicatio7ial Review [September 

1812, placed under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State 
in 1 82 1 and reorganized in 1854. had control of all schools 
supported by public tax. including both elementary and second- 
ary schools. By the law of 1904 the powers of both these 
great departments were merged in the Education Department; 
a new office with the title of Commissioner of Education 
created, and the Board of Regents reorganized. This law is 
purely a change in administrati\e details and does not affect in 
any degree the procedure governing either of the old depart- 
ments. The law has been in operation now one year and its 
benefits thru increased efficiency in service, economy in expendi- 
tures, and uniformity of policy are universally conceded. 

In April, 1905, as a result of long-continued agitation on 
the part of the Teachers Association, Public Education Asso- 
ciation, and other organizations of the city of Philadelphia, the 
legislature of the State of Pennsylvania enacted a law in refer- 
ence to cities of the first class. The bill is drawn on lines 
which are now believed to be sound in the administration of 
educational policies of cities, and contains many of the princi- 
ples or provisions which are incorporated in the school laws of 
New York City. Cleveland, and St. Louis. The main pro- 
visions of the law are as follows : 

(i) A five-mill tax for both the immediate and prospective 
needs of the schools, which will insure a sum under which the 
development of the city system will be rapid and effective. 

(2) The minimizing of the powers of the sectional boards 
and the consequent lessening of the influence of the local ward 
heeler and the politician. The retention of these ward divisions 
was a concession to obtain the passage of the bill, and they will 
undoubtedly be abolished in the near future. 

(3) The appointment of the members of the board of educa- 
tion at large by the judges of the Court of Common Pleas. 
While this is logically unsound in that it combines judicial and 
administrati\-e functions, it is probably a better plan at the pres- 
ent time in Philadelphia than the plan of election by |X)pular 
vote. 

(4) Reduction of the size of the board from 42 to 21. a step 



r'905] Educational progress of the year 115 

in the right direction, but a still smaller board would do better 
service. 

Many minor provisions such as the definite fixing of respon- 
sibility, the centralizing of powers and duties, the appointment 
of responsible heads of executive departments, etc., are incor- 
porated. The most serious omissions are the failure to provide 
a strict merit system for the appointment and promotion of 
teachers, and some indefiniteness in regard to the powers and 
duties which surround the office of superintendent. Most of 
these errors or omissions can be remedied by the first board of 
education, provided a progressive and broad-minded board is 
appointed. The general effect of the bill — while it may not 
meet the enthusiastic praise bestowed by one critic that it places 
the school system of Philadelphia fifty years in advance — is to 
give the city of Philadelphia a rational and defensible school 
system in line with modern educational policies, and a basis 
for a thoro and effective reorganization. 

In April. 1905, the legislature of Massachusetts passed an act 
reorganizing the School Committee of Boston which will un- 
doubtedly have a radical effect on the administration of school 
affairs in that city. The act is very short and substitutes for the 
present School Committee of 25 a committee of five, and be- 
stows upon the latter all the powers, privileges, duties, and obli- 
gations devolving upon the present committee. The success of 
this law will depend entirely upon the personnel of the board. 
If five strong representative citizens are appointed to its mem- 
bership, the school affairs of the city under the by-laws which 
they will adopt will be immensely improved. If a weak board 
subject to outside influences is appointed, their latter condition 
will be worse than their first. The powers of inspectors, super- 
intendents, and supervisors are not mentioned in the act, but 
are left to the by-laws to be fixed by the new board of education. 
There is undoubtedly a great opportunity awaiting the new 
board, and probably in no city in the country is there greater 
likelihood of a board being appointed which will be able to 
meet it. 

■ The laws of both Philadelphia and Boston have certain re- 
semblances. Both are very brief; both reduce materially the 



^ J 6 Educational Review [September 

number of tlie board; both leave to the board the making of 
rules and by-laws to govern its own procedure; and both leave 
the board free to define the powers and duties of all it? ap- 
pointees. 

MORAL AND RELIGIOUS TRAINING 

It is impossible to present by ordinary standards and statis- 
tics any measure of ethical or moral growth. It has no dis- 
tinct schedule in any curriculum, but it should form the basis of 
every curriculum. Character building is the real aim of the 
schools and the ultimate defense for the expenditure of millions 
upon their maintenance. The moral sense of this country is 
felt to be in an unsatisfactory condition. This has been borne in 
upon our consciousness with slowly increasing and insistent 
force, made headway against unwilling attitudes of mind, and 
IS now acknowledged as a serious menace to our social fabric. 
It manifests itself almost daily in new and surprising forms. 
The code of honor in bu.'-.iness, were it not so full of menace 
to the peace of the public, would be a diverting study in tan- 
gential ethics. Practices are encouraged and methods tolerated 
which, not so many years ago, would have set their users outside 
the pale of business approval. The conscience of men seems 
divided into two parts, — a positive and a negative — the former 
controlling their social relations after office hours, and the latter 
in convenient use during business hours. The methods of high 
finance differ not one whit from the buccaneers of the Spanish 
main, except as the swing of the broadsword differs from the 
push of the electric button. The misuse of fiduciary funds, il- 
legal combinations for trade and transit, and clever evasions of 
the spirit of the laws form the bulk of the new'S in our daily 
papers. 

But why multiply examples when the tendency is marked in 
every walk of life, and nowhere more distinctly than in the 
youth and children of the present age. There is in their minds 
a flippant disregard for constituted authority; a lack of respect 
for age and superior wisdom ; a v. tak appreciation of the de- 
mands of duty ; a tendency to follow pleasure and interest rather 
than obligation and order. Such is the recognized condition 



1 905 J Educational p7'0gress of the year 117 

which demands the earnest thought and action of our leaders of 
opinion. The greatest sign of rehef for the general situation 
is that the people are awake to the conditions and are agitating 
its remedy. Out of this are bound to come a healthier life and 
an intoleration of false standards. The question for school- 
men is how to assist by the proper training of the next gen- 
eration of men of affairs. And I am going to say, at the risk 
perhaps of being misunderstood, that in my opinion much of the 
responsibility for the present attitude of mind of children, as 
indicated above, is due to the theory that a child must be " in- 
terested " in every phase of his school work or it is not good 
for him. Beginning with the kindergarten and continuing into 
the elementary grades, we have run a little wild in the last 
decade or more in making things easy for the child. We have 
coaxed and coddled and bribed w^ith sweetmeats till the child 
has a totally wrong impression of his relativity to his environ- 
ment. I yidd to no one in acknowledging the great work done 
by the kindergarten, particularly in the crow^ded portions of our 
great cities, and in approving its purpose, but this does not mean 
approval of all its methods. They should not be extended too 
far into the child's life, and the elementary schools should be- 
gin to differentiate af once between work and play. A child has 
a weak, imperfect, illogical mind or he would not be a child. 
To appeal to his reason and his interest is to premise your work 
on negative quantities. Prescribe what your reason and the ex- 
perience of the race have proven good for him, and see that he 
does his tasks thru love if possible, thru compulsion if necessary. 
If a subject be thoroly disciplinary and wholly distasteful, and 
a child does it. it is good for the child. And above all, let us see 
to it that we instill into the child by leading him to conquer dif- 
ficulties, and to subordinate his desires to his obligations and his 
duty, a moral fiber w^hich w-ill carry him straight thru fire and 
water to his goal in life; and let us not be responsible for turn- 
ing into the world creatures of flexible backbone who will pur- 
sue their sinuous way along the lines of pleasure, interest, and 
least resistance. This is too large a subject to be pursued 
further in this paper, but its proper solution will contribute 
much to the strength of our training in morals. It is only one 



Ii8 Educatioyial Review [September 

of the factors in the problem, but one which can be ehminated 
by the action of school authorities. 

Against the material tendencies of the times, and the non- 
observance of moral obligation, many agencies are at work. As 
said before, the chief hope is the fact that the people are awake 
to the conditions. A recognized evil is more easily fought than 
one which works unseen and unappreciated. The work of the 
Religious Education Association has been rational and progress- 
ive, and its chief value is that it has been proved to be an agency 
thru which the exemplary but scattered efforts of a .score of 
societies and bodies are given a unity and an organization which 
is accomplishing great results. The work of the Society should 
have the earnest support of every schoolman, for it means con- 
certed effort and strategic disposition of force. The introduc- 
tion of educational methods in the Sunday schools has l)een 
remarkable in its effects. As one writer states, " More has been 
done since February, 1903, to put the Sunday school on an 
educational basis than during the score of years immediately 
preceding." The promotion of intelligent Bible study has been 
the sole object of one Society: and the fact is being recognized 
among our colleges that a man to be educated nmst have as 
thoro knowledge of the Hebrew laws, literature, and customs, 
as of the Greek and Roman. It is not so much of a disgrace 
for a college student to be caught reading the Bible as it was 
in my day. The output of literature on this subject during the 
year is noteworthy, and an examination of its titles found in 
the bibliography of education published in the Educational 
Review of June demonstrates the hold which the subject has 
upon the public and the methods which will be used to remedy 
the situation. 

SCHOOL AND COLLEGE ATHLETICS 

Closely allied to this subject is the whole vexed question of 
school and college athletics, and the influence of the age is seen 
in the taint of professionalism which creeps into our student 
sports in spite of severe rules gr-\-erning eligibility. The taint 
will continue until it is thoroly ground into our students, yes 
and even into the faculty and alumni advisory councils, that in- 



1905 J Educational progress of the year 119 

tercollegiate games should be played for sportsmanship and not 
for victory; and that it is just as much a credit to lose as to win, 
provided you play a square game. Heroic efforts have been 
made in the last few years to draw up iron-clad rules carrying 
severe penalties, but the spirit of the old cry which used to gov- 
ern the ethics of sport in at least a half-dozen institutions of the 
Atlantic seaboard, of " anythmg to beat Yale " can only be 
eliminated when college pride and spirit prefer an honest defeat 
to a questionable victory. 

DEPARTMENTAL TEACHING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

The departmental plan o\ teaching, introduced into over 130 
of the elementary schools of the City of New York during the 
last year, has attracted wide attention as the most comprehen- 
sive attempt to apply this principle to the public schools. It has 
been permitted at the option of the teachers in Boston and Chi- 
cago, and individual trials have been made in other places. It 
has been tried for two years in the city of Albany and the weight 
of opinion is favorable towards it, altho two years more of trial 
are deemed necessary to give a sufficient basis for comparison. 
An inquiry among the departmental teachers and the depart- 
mental pupils in the City of New York resulted in an almost 
unanimous opinion in favor of the plan. Its success is de- 
pendent, of course, on a large and thoroly organized corps of 
teachers, and it must therefore be confined to the larger cities. 
But where it can be introduced and be administered effectively, 
there would seem to be no reason why it should not be done. 
There is no more logic in a teacher's teaching all kinds of sub- 
jects than in a lawyer's practicing all kinds of law or a doctor's 
attempting tc treat all classes of diseases. The age of the jack- 
of-all-trades has passed in our professions and vocations. Why 
continue it in the one profession which is the foundation of ail 
others ? 

A careful inquiry into the results of this method of teaching 
was recently instituted by Mr. Kilpatrick, and some of the mos't 
noted advantages claimed from an educational standpoint are as 
follows : 

(i) Expert teaching; the child is always under the control 



I20 Educational Review [September 

of the teaclier who is best qualified to teach any given subject. 
The teacher herself becomes hig-hly proficient in the science of 
the branch, as well as in the best methods of teaching it. 

(2) Improved discipline. 

(3) Possibilities of more complete equipment in the way of 
special apparatus for the most effective teaching. 

(4) Better distribution of time and continuity of work. 

(5) Placing the responsibility directly upon the teacher for 
the advancement of the class in each subject of the grade. 

(6) Economy of supervision, economy of time and equip- 
ment. 

(7) The promotion of individuality thru placing greater re- 
sponsibility upon each child and increasing his opportunities. 

(8) Much greater interest in the subject on the part of the 
scholar when presented by an expert teacher. 

(9) It is a step towards the individual development of the 
pupil which in the present day of routine class machinery is 
much to be desired. 

EDUCATION FOR THE INDUSTRIES 

I choose this term because the term industrial training is in- 
variably associated in the public mind with manual training, 
which is not all of w'hat is meant. Education which trains for 
the work of the world, whether it be the arts, the trades, agri- 
culture, mining, or commerce, is the subject which is engrossing 
more of public attention tlian any other in the educational field. 
The business and commercial world is asking in all seriousness 
if we cannot send out young men and women somewhat better 
fitted for business conditions. There is no question about the 
training of those who are to enter the professional and technical 
fields, but for the workers in the varied industries there is doubt. 
Social life in this country has grown from simple needs to the 
com.plexity of the highest modern civilization with all the en- 
tailed obligations. Our education has grown and expanded 
with it. When the applications of steam and electricity from 
1830 to i860 revolutionized the entire social structure, our 
education changed its form to meet the demands upon it. A 
revolution in industrial methods is going on to-dav almost as 



1905 J Educational progress of the year 121 

marked, and our educational machinery must be remodeled suf- 
ficiently to meet it. Stripped of all verbiage our country is get- 
ting too large, and our needs too complex, to train all children 
just alike. But the traditions and spirit of our country will not 
for a moment sanction the establishment, as in Europe, of two 
systems of instruction, — one industrial and one cultural; one 
for working classes and one for governing classes. Our solu- 
tion of the problem is forced to be a combination course; the 
same for all children in earlier years, with all which that implies 
of hope and opportunity, containing enough manual training to 
benefit all, and an option in the higher years to afford the special 
training desired for the work of life. How to adjust our ma- 
chinery to the demands and the conditions, the kind and the 
extent of schools to be instituted to meet the requirements, are 
our greatest problems to-day. The progress of the country 
under this heading is more in the general acceptance of the idea 
and the means taken to meet it than otherwise. A catalog ex- 
tensive and striking could be made of the commercial and man- 
ual-training high schools established, the shop-work and practice 
courses introduced in the grades, the technical and trades 
schools instituted, and the departments of commerce organized 
in the universities ; but it would be only cumulative evidence of 
the feeling abroad in the land. At the convocation of the Uni- 
versity of the State of New York last week the entire program 
of two days was given to an intensive consideration of this topic 
and the ablest experts in the country addressed the meetings. 
Out of this agitation will come an adjustment satisfactory to 
our commercial and industrial development, and in harmony 
with our laws and traditions. 

HIGH SCHOOLS 

The growth of high schools lias been greater in the last two 
years than during any similar period since 1895. Four hun- 
dred and thirty schools have been established and the increase 
of students in attendance aggregates 43,595. Secondary 
education has seemed to recede from its two extreme positions 
and approach a more common ground. The former general 
and scholastic courses have been made more practical, and the 



122 Educational Review [September 

practical courses that have heretofore been somewhat narrow 
are being broadened by the introduction of cultural subjects. 
Manual-training- high schools are being looked upon less as 
trade schools and more as a liberal-education process. An ex- 
ception to this, and an experiment which involves to the extreme 
the parental control of the state, is the recent establishment of 
the Girls' Technical Training School in Xew York on the East 
side. It is designed to supplement the grammar-school grades 
by three years of instruction in dressmaking, milliner}-, stenog- 
rapliy. Ixx^kkeeping. domestic science, etc.. so that its graduates 
may at once find profitable employment in our shops. English, 
mathematics, geography, and United States history, some 
science, and a modem langfuage, or science option, are the other 
studies. It is the first approach in this country at public ex- 
pense to the ccolcs priniaires suf>eru-urcs of France, and while 
there is no doubt of its great practical value to a municipality 
like New York, its effect upon the educational policy of the 
United States will make it an object of close obsenation and 
interest. 

Hie two- and three-year courses in commercial studies are 
being raj^idly discontinued, and the four-year commercial course 
recommended bv the committee of the Department of Business 
Education of this Association in 1903 has met with general 
favor, and many commercial high schools have been established 
with this course as a basis. 

The Minnesota Agricultural High School has for its purpose 
to train students to become useful citizens as well as good 
fanners and housewives. The account of its development con- 
tained in Apj:>endix B and C of the Report of the Committee on 
Industrial Education in Rural Sdiools. is worth careful study, 
as the co-ordination of the rural school, agricultural high 
school, and agricultural college undertaken by the State of 
Minnesota is pioneer work and is attractincr wide attention. 

RURAL SCHOOLS 

The consolidation of country- schools is growing in popular 
favor, and perhaps has no place in this paper other than to re- 
port progress, inasmuch as it has been previously discussed. But 



1905] Educational progress of the year 123 

the recent nun eiiieiil lor instrnelion in the elements of ai;rienl- 
tiire in rural schools is a strong- additional argiunent in its favor. 
The larger the school, the hetter the equipment for teaching 
agriculture : and, what is more important, the greater the chance 
of securing a teacher who is fitted to give instrnclion. The Re- 
port of the Committee on Industrial Education in Rural Sch(K)ls 
and Comnuuiities has just l)een placed in the hands of the mem- 
bers of this Association and is an interesting and \alnahle docu- 
ment. The general conclusions of the Conunittee aie summed 
up in twelve findings, unanswerable in argument and conclusive 
in their reasons. I shall not give even a summary of these find- 
ings, as the entire reixM^t is on for discussion at this meeting. 
The report shouKl be studied tlioroly, however, as the (irst com- 
prehensive document on a phase of education which promises 
great results, not only in the dev-elopment of agricultural wealth, 
but also in holding young men to the occupancy of farms. 

EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH 

The last two years ha\e seen a remarkable growth in the 
educational activities of the Southern States. A continuous 
educational campaigii has been prosecuted vigorously in nearly 
every Southern State. This campaig'n has been participated in 
not ow\\ by leading educators but also by prominent [)(>litical 
leaders, and the appeal to the people for an increase in 
school taxes, the consolidation of scliool districts, and for gen- 
eral educational improvement, has borne fruit rapidly. The 
Southern Education Board and the General Education Board 
have co-operated cordially and effectively with the educational 
authorities of the various States, and their stimulating assist- 
ance has been appreciated by teachers and school officials. The 
organization of these Boards has been fully treated in the re- 
port preceding this and it is not my purpcvse to repeat it. The 
Boards came at a time when public sentiment was ripe for such 
a campaign as has 1)een waged. College and University men 
have been foremost in their participation and the pu1)lic press 
has lent most valuable aid. School improvement clubs and 
associations have been formed thruout the South, and edu- 
cation has become a rallying cry in political campaigns. The 



124 Educational Review [September 

determination of the South to educate all of its people, and 
its decision, in spite of poverty and other handicapping con- 
ditions, to do this as a business proposition and to do it at 
once is one of the most satisfactory occurrences of recent years. 
While for a long time the urban population of the South has 
had good public-school facilities, it must be remembered that 
nearly eighty per cent, of the ^wpulation of the Southern 
States is rural. It is chiefly for the improvement of rural school 
facilities that this educational campaign has been waged, and 
the unparalleled growth in public sentiment, showing that the 
movement has the thoro support of the people, is one of the 
most interesting and gratifying educational facts of our time. 

The time-honored Peabody Fund, established in 1867, is 
about to disappear as a distinct factor in Southern education, 
the trustees having determined to relinquish the trust, only 
the interest of which has been used heretofore, and dispose 
directly of the funds, amounting to about two and a half mil- 
lion dollars. One million dollars is to be given to the Peabody 
Normal College at Nashville. Tenn. The disposition of the 
remainder is as yet undetermined. 

The gift of ten million dollars to the General Education 
Board made last week by John D. Rockefeller puts the work 
of that Board upi^n a solid basis for a century to come and 
establislies a reserve force in the field of education which may 
be thrown at will to strengthen any weak point in the line. 
North, South, East, or AVest. 

teachers' pensions and Carnegie's gift 

The question of ])ensioning teachers on the theory that thev 
are members in long and honorable standing of the civil service 
of the state and should receive grateful recognition upon retire- 
ment has been greatly strengthened in principle by the almost 
universal satisfaction over the recent gift of Mr. Andrew Car- 
negie of ten million dollars for tlie pensioning of college pro- 
fessors who have retired from work on account of old age or 
disability. It is too early yet to know the plans for distributing 
the benefits of this fund or to ascertain its limitations, inasmuch 
as the board of control has but recently been appointed. But if 



1905] Educational progress of the year 125 

this principle is sound in its application to colleges, it is equally 
sound as applied to elementary and secondary schools, and it 
may pave the way to a general agitation of the subject and 
acceptance of the idea. 

The report of the Committee of the National Educational 
Association on salaries, tenure, and pensions, submitted for the 
consideration of this body at this meeting, states that hardly a 
beginning has as yet been made in the United States towards 
creating a system of pensions for teachers. In making this 
statement the committee emphasizes the distinction between a 
pension system properly so-called and the various schemes of 
mutual aid, retirement funds, or old-age stipends that have been 
organized and are maintained primarily by the teachers them- 
selves and at their own expense. The United States seems to 
have fallen behind other nations in this respect, and Great Brit- 
ain, France, and Belgium have more satisfactory laws pro- 
viding for pensions to retired teachers. The report states that 
there is no commonwealth in the United States in which public- 
school teachers in all cities and counties are by provision of law 
pensioned upon retirement out of public funds. Local author- 
ities have taken some notice of the subject within the last few 
years, but with the exception of New York, Detroit, and San 
Francisco, no municipality can be said to have a public pension 
system. The provisions in all other cities are based upon the in- 
surance plan of deductions from teachers' salaries. The law 
creating a retirement fund in Greater New York, the sources 
of which fund are the moneys forfeited or withheld for absence 
from duty, the moneys received from donations, legacies, and 
gifts, and fi\'e per cent, annually of all excise moneys, was 
amended by the legislature of 1905 so as to exempt from levy 
and sale by virtue of an execution all pensions or annuities pay- 
able out of the public-school teachers' retirement fund. 

The new school codes of New Jersey and Ohio both recognize 
the insurance principle in the creation of retirement funds. 
This question is one which will be much before the public dur- 
ing the next decade, and the report of the committee of this 
ass(3ciation is particularly valuable in the facts and deductions 
which it presents. 



126 Educational Review [September 

Correlative with this topic is the tenure of office of teachers. 
The principle should be recognized that security of jxtsition 
is of fundamental importance in order to secure faithful and 
efficient service from public-school teachers. A school force 
which is constantly shifting or liable to sudden change cannot 
produce the good results obtained under a i>ermanent tenure. 
There is not the incentive for bright young men and women to 
enter the teaching profession that would prevail were the princi- 
ple of permanency established. The reluctance of men to enter 
the teaching profession and the general uneasiness of those who 
are engaged in it are largely due to this fact. The advocacy of 
tenure of office for all teachers during competency and good 
behavior, after they have first served a satisfactory probationary 
period, was the basis of a bill introduced into the New York 
legislature last winter, but for the passage of which public opin- 
ion did not seem ripe. This is about the state of affairs which 
exists in all parts of the country. The report of the Un'ted 
States Commissioner of E-ducation made public in 1904 con- 
tains an investigation of the length of service of teachers in 
cities of 8000 population or over, which shows that in 379 cities 
or towns out of the total of 545 exceeding this limit of popula- 
tion, 50 ])er cent, of tlie male teachers have been engaged less 
than 13 years, and 53 per cent, of the female teachers less than 
10 years. 

teachers' salaries 

Considerable progress has been made in the last few years in 
the matter of teachers' salaries, and the report of the com- 
mittee on teachers' salaries, tenure, and pensions just submitted 
to this Association gives an abundance of figures and the neces- 
sary available data for the consideration of this subject. The 
principle at issue needs no discussion here, but the statement 
can be safely made that there is a general disposition to advance 
the salaries of teachers in the public schools of the United 
States, tho it is not in proportion to the increased cost of 
living or to the advanced requir'^ments for the certification of 
teachers. Most of the larger cities have adopted a fixed salary 
schedule providing for minimum and maximum salaries for 
each position and a regular yearly increase. These schedules 



I905J Educational progress of the year 127 

are as diverse as can be imagined, and seem to be based rather 
upon the opmion of the local authorities than upon either the 
size of the city or tlie purchasing power of a dollar in that 
commumty. The variation in the salaries of similar positions 
in cities of the same relative size is sometimes startling- in the 
extreme. In some cases the difference is due to the personality 
of the occupant of the position, but in most cases to the variable 
quantity known as boards of education. Mmimum salary laws 
correct m prmciple and indicative of a desire to deal justly with 
he situation, have recently been passed in Indiana, Maryland 
West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. 

The deductions and inferences from this interesting report 
would fill a volume, but can have no further place in the resume I 
have attempted. The chief sign of progress is the general favor 
with wh,ch the attempt to improve the salaries of teachers has 
been received by the people m general. The recognition of the 
principle that it saves money to the public to paj for expert 
service will do more to further the progress of popular educa- 
tion in this country than any other one item. One of the keen 
observers accompanying the Mosely Commission stated that 
the people of the United States spend a marvelous amount of 
money on their public schools, but that the salaries of teachers 
are not sufficient for the service the country desires or should 
have; that the money lavished on the schools goes to buildings 
or equipment which are on a much more generous scale than in 
England, but that the teachers-the living force of the schools 
— are kept short. 

The raising of the Harvard endowment fund to yield an an- 
nual income of one hundred thousand dollars, to be applied to 
the mcrease of the salaries of the professors, is a notable event ^ 
of the year and indicates the general feeling on the question 
:Similar funds are now being raised by the alumni of other col- 
leges. 

THE BACCALAUREATE AND PROFESSIONAL COURSES 

The last two years have seen the adoption of many experi- ■ 
ments— I use the word rather advisedly— in the direction of a 
shorter combined baccalaureate and professional course. In the 



128 Educational Review [September 

face of the increasing demands of the professional schools, and 
with opportunity for almost unhmited laboratory research, this 
shortening- has been done at the expense of the college course. 
The ix)licy of Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, and Chicago has 
been in this direction. The last revision of the curriculum of 
Columbia, voted in January, 1905, to take effect next Septem- 
ber, is the most radical step thus far adopted, and at the same 
time the most defensible. It has the merit of entire frankness, 
and of logical reasoning, even if we don't agree with all the 
premises. The requirements for graduation are 124 points, 
each point meaning satisfactory cc^mpletion of work requiring 
attendance one hour a week for a half year. After a student 
has obtained 72 points he is at liberty to take up work for the 
remaining points in any of the professional schools of the Uni- 
versity except law, which requires 94 points. A brilliant stu- 
dent can make Ji points in two years. The average student will 
make 60 points. It becomes possible, therefore, by hard, per- 
sistent, and thoro work, to win the two degrees in six years ; it 
is quite possible to do it in six and one-half years ; and not dif- 
ficult to do it in seven years. The student may m.ake up his 
mind at the end of two or two and a half years whetlier he will 
pursue the college course for the full four years, or whether he 
will take ad\'antage of the shortened time to gain his profes- 
sional degree. 

The other changes which accompany this scheme are the 
adoption of semi-annual admissions and graduations which 
come from making the half year the unit of credit, and the 
establishment of a program of studies for the degree of B. S.. 
which does not require Latin; a regulation preventing those 
whose work is consistently poor in all courses from receiving a 
degree, and a further regulation to prevent browsing about the 
course which prescribes that at least nine points must be under 
some one department. Quoting from a resume of the new pro- 
gram by Professor Thomas, " the expectation is that the new 
program of studies will prove especially attractive to students 
who may wish to obtain a college education before entering one 
of the schools of technology or applied science. ... To 
avoid dupl 'cation the college should gradually gather into its 



1 905 J Educatio?ia I progress of the year 129 

jurisdiction all those fundamental disciplines which are at once 
important in general education and necessary for particular 
lines of professional study. The professional schools will then 
be able to confine themselves more closely than now to strictly 
professional instruction." 

This program will undoubtedly be watched with great in- 
terest and will be the basis of many discussions and conclusions. 
Under the auspices of the Education Department of the State 
of New York, efforts have been made the past year to establish 
a medical elective course in the last two years of the arts col- 
leges of the State which will be accepted by medical schools as 
an equivalent of one year of medicine. It has progressed to 
the point of outlining the course, an expressed willingness on 
the part of several colleges to adopt it, and of two medical 
schools to accept it. This arrangement will earn the baccalau- 
reate and medical degree in seven years. 

There has. however, been noticeable during the last two years 
a strong reaction against the tendency to shorten the college 
course, and from the papers and discussions which have been 
contributed during this period it is evident that there has been 
a return to the distinct work of the American college as such. 
This is accentuated, and the work of the small college strength- 
ened by Mr. Carnegie's recent statements concerning contem- 
plated action, and the gifts of D. K. Pearsons to numerous small 
colleges in the West. President Hadley in his article in the 
Century Mogazine for April, 1905, puts the matter in an un- 
answerable form which should be studied by everyone in- 
terested in this phase of our educational life. This article, 
which is based upon the statement of a French scholar that the 
bachelor's degree is a social rather than a pedagogical institu- 
tion, and in which he demonstrates that the college course is 
valued not solely or primarily for its studies but rather for its 
associations, concludes as follows : 

" Tmie alone can show whether the idea of allowing a student 
to develop his professional activity at as early a period as pos- 
sible, but postponing to as late a period as possible the narrow- 
ing of his sympthies and the lessening of his points of contact 



^ 30 Educational Review [September 

with men outside of iiis profession, is a practical or an im- 
practicable one. 

" While we are waitin^r for this question to be decided, we 
shall probably see two sets of experiments going on in different 
universities. In those which are connected with our large cities 
where the work of the professional school counts for more and 
the life of the college for less, we are likely to see a tendency 
to shorten the college course — a tendency to make a sharp line 
of demarcation between the studies of that course and the pro- 
fessional studies which are to follow it. and to disregard or 
undervalue the social adjuncts which a college course carries 
with it. In smaller places and among institutions which have 
a more distinctly collegiate atmosphere, we may expect to find 
these tendencies reversed. — to see an effort to maintain the col- 
lege course in its integrity and include within it as much as pos 
sible of preparation for the actual work of life, — in the belief 
that the gain to American institutions and American citizenship 
resulting from the contact of different types of men with one 
another will be strong enough to resist the tendency of such 
a college to disintegration and valuable enough to compensate 
for any difficulties and losses which the prosecution of such a 
plan inx'oh'es." 

Prophecies are presumably out of order, but there are in- 
dications that undergraduate work will eventually be entirely 
separated from the distinctive university courses, and all work 
preparatory thereto left to secondary schools and colleges. 

ENTRANCE TO THE PROFESSIONS 

Material progress has been made in the last two years in 
establishing legal ])rovisions in the x-arious States guarding the 
entrance to the professions of law, medicine, dentistry, veter- 
inary surgery, nurse-training, and public accounting. The 
necessity of maintaining relatively uniform standards in the va- 
rious States is now recognized sufficiently to induce legislative 
action. The State of New York leads in her elaborate code 
governing all of these professions, and the laws of other States 
are usually based upon the New York statutes. The Southern 
and far Western States are still slow to act. 



1905J Educational progress of the year 131 

In law, the State of Missouri has estabhshed a State board 
of examiners and a prehminary education equivalent to a gram- 
mar-school course. 

In medicine, reciprocity provisions for indorsino- other State 
licenses have been passed in Georgia, Iowa, Missouri, and Wy- 
oming. Medical acts have been revised in South Carolina, Ken- 
tucky, Vermont, and Wyoming. 

In dentistry. State boards of examiners have been created by 
Kentucky and Wyoming; Mississippi requires liigh-school 
education or its equivalent as a preliminary to the examination. 

In pharmacy, New York has made eight years in elementary 
schools and one year in high school a prerequisite to entering 
a school of pharmacy. Pennsylvania has become the second 
State requiring a diploma from a reputable pharmacy school for 
admission to licensing examinations. 

In veterinary medicine, Maine and Missouri have established 
State boards of examiners, and New York has raised the en- 
trance requirement of veterinary colleges to a four-year high- 
school course, or its equix^alent. placing this profession on a par 
with medicine and dentistry. 

In nurse-training, Maryland has created a State board of ex- 
aminers, and the equivalent of a high-school course and 
•diploma from a training-school is required for registration. 

UNIVERSITY SUMMER SCHOOLS 

The last two years seem to have marked perceptibly the pass- 
ing of the summer school of methods and the growth in public 
favor of the university summer school. This is a distinct step 
in advance, inasmuch as it substitutes for the spasmodic efforts 
of diverse agencies, a regular curricuUim maintained by a re- 
sponsible organization. The growth of the university summer 
schools is phenomenal and teachers are patronizing them to a 
remarkable degree. A number of cities have made it a financial 
or professional advantage to th^ teachers who attend univer- 
sity summer schools. Sevei'al cities give specific advances in 
salary to the teacher who brings a certificate of achievement ; 
others allow several points toward professional examinations 
for the winn-'ne of similar credentials. 



132 Educational Review [September 

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY^ AN INTEGRAL PART OF OUR EDUCATIONAL 

SYSTEM 

The public library as an educational force is beginning to be 
much more thoroly understood and used. If civilization is to 
advance and free institutions be insured, there must be intelli- 
gence on the part of the people and due regard paid to the con- 
stant improvement of the individual. The school does not hold 
the child any great length of time. The average term of in- 
struction per pupil for the whole country is now about 5.17 
years, and an additional means of instruction must be provided 
at -public expense. When school days are over there is no 
agency but the public library to efficiently take the place, and for 
busy men and women it is the only opportunity for larger infor- 
mation and for self-education, which is in reality the broadest 
and best education. The highest civilization is that which lives 
together in mutual helpfulness. It means to each citizen a 
source of help, comfort, and protection, each giving according 
to his power and each acquiring according to his deserts. An 
ignorant and unenlightened people cannot live such a life as 
this. Small men and women cannot enter into it. There must 
be breadth of horizon and largeness of outlook, grounded in 
information, intelligence, and character. The common school 
has thrown wide the door of opportunity, and its work must 
be carried to completion by the public library. That this is 
realized by the public is amply demonstrated by the remarkable 
increase of public libraries and the growth and extension of its 
principles. Five hundred and six library gifts in the United 
States for the year ending May 31. 1904, the latest figures 
available, are reported at $6,103,137, of which nearly one- 
fourth was given by Mr. Carnegie. He has given during the 
last fifteen years nearly forty millions of dollars to establish 
1350 libraries. The appropriation for the City of New York 
for current library expenses for the year 1905 was $634,393. 
The free circulation of books in the City of New York for 1904 
was 6,339,190, and for the State of New York a grand total of 
11,347,802. Accurate statistic-^ nre not available from other 
portions of the country, but in twenty-three States there are 



/ 



1 905 J Educational progress of the yea r 133 

State library commissions, or departments, to promote the 
establishment of public libraries and to assist them in main- 
taining high standards of usefulness. The number of free 
libraries is rapidly increasing from year to year, and, in the 
light of its supplementary function to the public-school, library 
growth is one of the brightest signs of the times. 

SPECIAL EDUCATION 

Special education — a term which I have never liked, seem- 
ingly coined to avoid the use of the word " defective " and 
which has always to be defined as education applying to chil- 
dren defective in some measure — has made a wonderful ad- 
vance during the last two years, particularly in two ways: 
First, a growing appreciation and practical acceptance on the 
part of the public that it is as much a part of the duty of the 
state to provide free education for children defective in any 
respect as for those who are normal ; this is evidenced by in- 
creased interest and increased appropriations for the mainte- 
nance of schools for special instruction. Second, the great in- 
crease in the number of manual-training courses in schools for 
the deaf and dumb, blind and feeble-minded children, whereby 
they are not only trained to be mentally more alert, but often 
lay the foundation of a trade which will support them during 
life. In connection with the Ohio School for Feeble-minded 
Youth, there has recently been established a custodial farm of 
sufficient acreage to give employment to the adult feeble- 
mmded of the State in such a way that the sexes are entirely 
separated, not only from each other but from society at large. 
In the courses of study for the blind there has been introduced 
a great amount of nature-study, by which the sense-perception 
is being greatly increased and a knowledge of the outer world 
more closely brought to the mental sight of the child. At the 
St. Louis Exposition there was on exhibition a group of 358 
specimens of insects gathered, classified, and mounted by blind 
pupils, the only aid given being that which was rendered by 
ordinary children in catching the specimens. If this increased 
study in nature-work will aid to cultivate in the blind a habit 
of exact thought in the place of the irregular emotions which 



134 EdiuaCiunal Review [September 

have hitherto characterized this class <;f chiUh-en, it will be a 
distinct step in advance. 

A resohitioii passed by the American Medical Association in 
New Orleans, in May, 1903, asking- that measures be taken l)y 
boards of health, boards of education, and sch(X3l authorities 
and, if possible, legislation be secured looking toward an ex- 
amination of the eyes and ears of all school children, has been 
adopted by the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, the 
American Public Health Association, and over twenty State 
medical associations. In about thirty cities of the country 
formal tests of the sight and hearing are maintained by official 
medical inspectors, and in a number of municipalities medical 
inspectors are appointed by the public-school authorities to test 
not only the sight and hearing but other organs of the body. 
This guardianship of the health of children is producing re- 
markably good results. 

In many of our cities also special classes are formed for the 
training of children, more or less abnormal, who with proper 
care can make greater intellectual advance. These classes are 
always small and in charge of a teacher specially fitted for the 
delicate work. 

COMPUL.SORY EDUCATION AND JUVENILE COURTS 

The feeling of responsibility on the part of those carrying on 
the affairs of the state for the education of the young is in- 
creasing. There is a greater ap[)reciation of the child's rights 
to an education and an insistence upon parents sending chil- 
dren to school up to the full age limit. The compulsory educa- 
tion laws have been amended in many States with this end in 
view. Children's courts have been established in many cities 
and truants and incorrigibles carefully supervised and placed 
where they can secure a good elementary education. Notable 
juvenile courts are those conducted by Judge Lindsay of Den- 
ver, Judge Tutliill of Chicago, and Judge Stul)bs of Indian- 
apolis. 

SUPPLEMENTARY EDUCATION 

The measures for adapting the public-school system to the 
varied conditions of a great urban pcjpulation are significant 



1905] Educatio7ial progress of the year 135 

features of our social and economic progress. Various forms 
of continuation schools for those who are employed during 
the day are being- established in all the large industrial cities. 
The educational centers for working people in Boston, the 
evening School of Trades in Springfield, and the great number 
of evening schools in New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago are 
instances in point. These schools teach a range of subjects 
almost as wide as the day schools, tho leaning strongly to the 
practical. The attendance of recently arrived immigrants at 
these schools is noticeable and significant. The use of the 
public schoolhouses in the evenings as social centers, for 
popular lectures, for parents' meetings, and for study clubs, 
begun in the larger cities, is rapidly being adopted in smaller 
cities and industrial towns, and brings a double return to the 
community for the investment in educational equipment. 

The humane as well as educational principle involved in 
maintaining vacation schools in crowded cities where children 
can find recreation as well as instruction in manual training, 
gymnastics, and athletics is reclaiming thousands of boys and 
girls from street life and turning gangs of embryo toughs into 
normal trained men and women. The public-school gymna- 
sium and playground is recognized to be as potent a factor in 
modern school training and upbuilding of character as can be 
employed. For this reason one of the most notable events of 
the school year just closing is the appropriation of one million 
dollars for the purchase and the equipment of playgrounds in 
the tenement districts of New York and Brooklyn. Three 
hundred thousand dollars was also appropriated for purchasinp- 
three athletic fields for the use of the pupils of the greater city. 
It is money well spent. Nearly every city in the United States 
of one hundred thousand inhabitants maintains vacation 
schools. The great development in the last five years has been 
due to New York's action in taking over the schools formerly 
conducted by the Society for Improving the Condition of the 
Poor, and its great need has led to the prosecution of the work 
with corresponding vigor. 



13.^ Educational Review [September 

THE EDUCATIONAL EXHIBIT AT THE ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION 

A paper of tliis nature would not be complete without refer- 
ence to the educational exhibits of the Universal Exposition 
held at St. Louis in 1904. in which exhibit thirty-three States 
and Territories and twenty-tw(j foreign countries participated. 
At the same time there may be a doubt as to whether this <iisi)lay 
comes under the head of educational progress. It was rather 
an objective summary of the world's educational status at that 
date, brought together for the purpose of comparison and study. 
It has already been thoroly discussed in the educational press 
and on educational platforms, and the lessons taught by the 
orderly and systematic arrangement of the prominent features 
of the educational systems of nearly every civilized country 
have been thoroly emphasized. It is too early to assert that it 
has influenced any important movement and almost too late to 
again repeat th.at its suggestive influences have jjenetrated. thru 
the thousands of teachers who visited the Education building, to 
every quarter of the globe. Unique in the position of being 
the concrete form of the science, the theory of which the entire 
Exposition was designed to emphasize, the exhibit stands as a 
monument to mark the recognition of the fact by a new nation, 
that education is the practical basis of the social and industrial 
life of a country. 

The Congress of Arts and Science 

The most notable gathering of men of letters, arts, and 
science which has ever taken place in the history of the world 
was the Congress of Arts and Science held under the ausi)ices 
of the St. Louis Exposition in September. 1904. it was a 
gathering remarkable for its cosmopolitan membership, its em- 
phasis of the fraternity of scholarship, for the personnel of its 
participants, and for its magnificent contribution to the scien- 
tific thought of the world. The Congress was conceived in the 
desire to depart from the routine of international gatherings 
common to Universal expositions, and was the result of much 
thought and wide conference on the part of the authorities of 
the Exposition. The plan grew out of the idea that the sub- 



1905] Educational progress of the year 137 

divisions and multiplication of specialties in science had reached 
a stage at which investigators and scholars might derive both 
inspiration and profit thru a general survey of the various fields 
of learning, planned with a view of bringing the scattered 
sciences into closer mutual relations. The central purpose was 
the unification of knowledge, an efifort which seemed doubly 
appropriate on an occasion when the nations were bringing 
together a comprehensive exhibit of their arts and industries. 
In these days when mind is concentrated on atoms, when the 
narrow field of the specialist is all too wide for the life work 
of our keenest intellects, a discussion of the broader relations 
of the sciences, their interdependence on each other, and their 
influence on the destinies of the race was felt to be worth the 
trial. It might lead to generalizations, in which this age is 
remarkably deficient. 

The opening of the Congress on September 19 was fol- 
lowed on Tuesday forenoon by addresses on the main divisions 
of science and its applications, the general theme being the 
unification of each of the fields treated. These were followed 
by two addresses on each of the twenty-four great departments 
into which knowledge was divided. The theme of one address 
in each case was the fundamental conceptions and methods, 
while the other set forth the progress during the last century. 
These addresses were delivered by Americans, making the work 
of the first two days the contribution of American scholarship. 
On the third day, with the opening of the sections, the inter- 
national work began. One hundred and twenty-eight sections 
were held in the four remaining days of the Congress, at each 
of which two papers were read, — one by a foreigner, the other 
by an American, — the theme of one being suggested by the re- 
lati'-ns of the special branch treated to other branches; the 
Oti rr by its present problems. 

A glance at the personnel of the speakers proves conclusively 
that never before have so many leading exponents of various 
learning or so many leading scientists been brought together 
for a common purpose. The papers, which in nearly every in- 
stance by their very high plane of scholarship showed a full 
appreciation of the importance of the occasion, are now being 



13^ Educational Review [September 

published in eight volumes by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. of 
Boston, and will embody a contribution to scientific literature 
which will mark the St. Louis Exposition long after the record 
of its material achievements has faded from the minds of men. 

EDUCATIONAL LITERATURE 

Within the last two years the literature of the profession 
has brc^adened and deepened and some really noteworthy books 
have been published which indicate that within a reasonable 
time we need not be ashamed of comparison with other pro- 
fessions. The bibliographies published by the Educ.\tion.\l 
Review in June. 1904, and June, 1905, give forty-three titles 
of books that should be in ever^- large library and be accuratelv 
known to all students of education. With no intention of dis- 
criminating, a half-dozen of these should be specially mentioned 
as widely read and favorably received works ; such are Home's 
Philosophy of ciiucotioii. Thomdike's EdiicatioiiaJ f^sythology. 
Brown's Making of our middle schools. Coe's Editcatioti iu 
religion and nwrals. Carpenter's Teaching of English, and 
Hall's Adolescence, easily the greatest book on the subject ever 
presented. 

MISCELL-\NEOUS 

Space forbids extended treatment of many features worth 
presenting, but their mention will carry full appreciation to 
this aiulience: noteworthy are: (a) a growing tendency in the 
Eastern States to suppon from public funds the higher forms 
of education ; extension of trade schools under private auspices 
and in institinions maintained by private bequests, where 
plumbing, metal-working, carpentry, painting, etc., are taught : 
(h) a growing relief in loose grading plans such as obtain in 
Chicago. St. Louis, Elizabeth. Batavia, Cambridge, in contra- 
distincti<^n to the old mechanical grading: [C) reaction fron^ 'he 
belief that spelling can be learned incidentally as one leanis to 
walk, and a liberal reaction from older methods of teaching 
history and geography, where lessons were memorized, to the 
newer forms of teaching which require the pupils to under- 
stand what they are stud\nng; ((/) the leading place given to 
English in the elementary schools and efforts towards a more 



1905] Educational progress of the year 139 

rational plan of teaching English in the high schools. Arith- 
metic is no longer given twice the amount of time allowed to 
any other subject, altho its importance is still recognized; (r) 
the constant raising of the standard of entrance to the teaching 
ranks and the rapid development of departments of education 
in colleges and universities. Correlative to this is the growing 
demand for none but college- and university-trained teachers 
in high schools, while normal-trained teachers are in demand 
for the grades and the rural schools ; ( f) a gradual but inevi- 
table transference of purely educational functions from boards 
of education to professional administrators; appointment of 
teachers on the merit plan, transfer of teachers and pupils, 
graduation of pupils and other details of management gener- 
ally ha\e l)een given over to the superintendent \ {g) close atten- 
tion to schoolhouse architecture and the immense improvement 
in the equipment of school buildings, particularly in reference to 
gA'mnasiums. baths, roof-playgrounds, elevators, workshops, 
and kitchens : ( /;) the work of the Agricultural Department of 
the government, supplemented by the work of the agricultural 
colleges and experiment stations in applying the results of scien- 
tific investigation to agriculture, horticulture, stock-breeding, 
floriculture, and the like; (0 the investigations and discoveries 
of Luther Burbank in the improvement and development of 
fruits, flowers, and vegetable food products, especially the 
development of a spineless cactus, which can be produced in 
almost limitless quantities in arid climates and which will add 
materially to the food production of the world. 

INSULAR EDUCATION 

Porto Rico. — No changes have been made in the school 
system as a whole or in the policy of the Department to lay 
emphasis upon the work of the common schools of primary 
grade. As a rule children enter these schools at the age of 
five or six and remain about three years, the vast majority by 
reason of their poverty not being able to remain longer. The 
town schools have a carefully graded eight-year course. The 
principal hindrance to the more rapid development of educa- 
tional matters on the island of Porto Rico seems to be the lack 



140 Educational Review [Septeml)er 

of funds, and unless Congress takes special action on the mat- 
ter little relief is likely to come. The burdens of taxation are 
now as severe as the limited resources of the island can meet, 
and much as the improvement of the scIkx^Is is desired by the 
people it is considered unwise to tax them further for this pur- 
pose. Whether Congress can find any means of relief for the 
situation is doubtful, but a policy should be inaugurated which 
will give to every child in Porto Rico an opportunity to attend 
school, instead of the accommodations being liinited as at 
present to about 70,000 children or one-fifth of the population 
of school age. 

There are at present employed in the common schools 1265 
teachers, of whom 139 are Americans who devote most of 
their time to the teaching of the English language. The aver- 
age enrollment per school has increased over 25 per cent, within 
the last two years. The eight-weeks trip of 540 Porto Rican 
teachers to the United States and to the summer schools of 
Harvard and Cornell, during the summer of 1Q04, is considered 
successful from every standpoint. The object of the trip was 
to give the teachers a strong stimulus in the study of the Eng- 
hsh language and a clearer idea of American life and institu- 
tions and of American history and geography. Congress re- 
fused to do more to aid the scheme than to provide transporta- 
tion, and the remaining amount required, which was practically 
$100 per person, was contributed nearly half by the teachers 
and the remainder by private subscriptions in New York. Bos- 
ton, and Philadelphia. 

The University of Porto Rico was estal)lished in March, 
1903. and with it was incorporated the insular normal school, 
located at Rio Piedras. This normal department of the Uni- 
versity was the only department in operation at the time of 
the organization of the University. The main object is the 
establishment of professional schools, particularly in law, medi- 
cine, and engineering. Teachers' institutes have been inaugu- 
rated during the i)ast year, and the programs of the meetings 
and the appointment i)t inspectors are carried on from the 
Department. 

The PhxUppmes. — The reaction and indifference to the edu- 



1 905 ] Educational progress of the year 141 

cational policy of the United States government which existed 
in the PhiHppines two years ago have now almost entirely 
disappeared thru the strenuous measures adopted by the 
Bureau of Education. Provinces such as Misamis, from which 
the division superintendent and all insular teachers and all 
supplies were withdrawn, have come fully to realize the value 
of the education proffered and the fact that its being a free 
gift should not cause it to be lightly considered. The realiza- 
tion that edu'cation was not to be forced upon the people but 
rather was an opportunity which they should not fail to grasp, 
has seemed to be the controlling element in the change of atti- 
tude. 

The chief points of progress in the Philippine schools, which 
have been carried on under the policy first established by the 
government, have been almost entirely in the matter of ad- 
ministration of increased revenue. The status of the di- 
vision superintendents under the civil service has been fixed 
and the minimum salary placed at $1600. These salaries are 
also no longer made with reference to the respective political 
divisions, but the superintendents may be assigned to duty in 
any part of the archipelago. Promotions have also been ar- 
ranged for on the merit basis and the teachers included in the 
classified civil service. This gave rise to some confusion at 
first, but satisfactory and equitable adjustments have been 
made and the lavv- at the present time is popular. Provision 
has also been made for meeting the expenses of American 
teachers assigned to visit the barrio schools. 

The chief features of the policy of the Bureau have been 
summarized by the Superintendent of Education as organizing 
and placing, under competent supervision, primary instruction 
within reach of every child in the Christian provinces ; the 
training of a sufficient number of Filipino young men and 
women as teachers ; organizing in every large municipality an 
intermediate school for continuing the work of the grades and 
giving efficient practical instruction in industrial training; the 
establishment of provincial high schools ; the developing of 
the three technical schools already established. 
The passage of the Internal Revenue Act of a year ago, which 



142 Educational Review [September 

devotes five per cent, of the entire revenues to the municipal 
school funds, has been of immense advantage to the educational 
situation and has permitted the employment of many hundred 
additional teachers at fair salaries. The actual attendance in 
September, 1903, upon the common schools was 182,282 pupils. 
In October, 1904, the grand total was approximately 364,000. 
This tremendous increase in one year is due not to the en- 
forcement of any compulsory education act, but to the more 
complete realization on the part of the Filipino people of what 
the education introduced by the American government stands 
for and the opportunities it afifords their children. The experi- 
ment of planting the ideals of American democracy among an 
Asiatic people seems to be meeting with more abundant suc- 
cess than was anticipated two years ago, and in the minds of 
the officials of the government the successful termination of 
the reactive period and the evidence of increased interest and 
attendance are positive proof of the ultimate justification of 
the American policy. 

FOREIGN EDUCATION 

It is impossible in a review of this nature to go into minor 
details in foreign education, or do more than select here and 
there some features which seem to be worthy of note. This is 
all that has been attempted and in no case is there a discussion 
of foreign systems. Many important countries are untouched 
because their work seems to be the normal progress of policies 
adopted prior to the period covered in this address. I should 
like this borne carefully in mind in criticising the faults of 
omission and commission existing in the Report. 

France 

In the field of higher education a decree which took effect 
November i, 1904. united the Superior Normal School to the 
University of Paris. The normal school preserved its adminis- 
trative and civil personality, the Director and assistant becom- 
ing members of the Council of the University. The teachers 
of the normal school became members of the faculty of science 
and letters. The scientific instruction is given bv the Uni- 



1905] Educational progress of the year 143 

versity, and the professional instruction by the normal school 
with a course in the lyceums. Two courses, one of letters and 
one of science, are maintained, each three years in length. The 
students are matriculated in the University, and in short the 
relation is almost exactly the same as that of the Teachers 
College to Columbia University in this country. The policy 
of placing the training of teachers for the higher schools under 
University direction is parallel with recent developments in 
our own country, and the direct influence of the American sys- 
tem is acknowledged in the reorganization in France. The 
changes are made in the expectation of securing a more equi- 
table distribution of the scholarships, the number of which will 
depend upon the funds available in the budget, and of obtain- 
ing a higher grade of teachers in the secondary schools of 
France. In the discussion of these changes, M. Croisset, Dean 
of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Paris, asserts 
in commenting on the importance of Latin composition as 
compared with the Latin theme, that Latin has ceased to be 
what it was formerly, a scientific international language. 

In secondary education the chief modifications have been in 
the plan of studies, programs, and examinations for the bacca- 
laureate. In the lyceums the total duration of hours of class 
work and of study has been reduced to nine hours for students 
under 16 years of age and to seven hours for those under 12. 
No class period must exceed one hour except in the higher 
courses. The modifications of the French secondary school 
system are suggestive of the American plan as exhibited in 
Paris during the Exposition of 1900. The former modern 
and classical courses, differing by one year, have been revised, 
and instead of two distinct lines of study, two cycles have been 
adopted, the first of four years, from the sixth to the third 
inclusive, in two divisions, differing by having Latin as the 
basis for one, and French and other modern languages for the 
other. The second cycle, comprising three years, is divided 
into four sections: (a) the Greek-Latin, (b) the Latin and 
modern languages, (c) the Latin-science, (d) the science and 
modern language, all quite analogous to the four courses of 
the American series leading to the degree of arts (B. A.), the 



144 Educational Review [September 

degree t)f philosophy ( B. Ph.), the degree of science (B. S.) 
and the degree of literature (B. L. ). 

In elementary education the chief problem has been the 
amelioration and improvement of the teaching force. No one 
may become a teacher in the public elementary schools without 
holding a normal-school certificate testifying to pedagogic 
ability and granted after having passed three years at least in 
a normal training school for teachers. The chief anxiety is 
concerning the question of men teachers. The recent financial 
law passed April 22, 1905, has increased the salary of teachers 
in the elementary schools, and the new military law of 1905 
contributes to the increase of men teachers by permitting 
an exchange of military service for a five-years contract in 
teaching. 

The suppression of the congregations still continues a mat- 
ter of strife between the lay spirit and the clerical. The law 
of July 6, 1904, presents six articles, all of which are interest- 
ing but which cannot be presented here in extension. The 
first forbids instruction of all kinds and nature to the congrega- 
tions of France within a maximum limit of ten years. The 
second decrees that congregations that are exclusively teach- 
ing bodies shall not enroll new members and only those that 
are foreign may continue their course. The third determines 
on the closing of the institutions within at least the ten years. 
The fourth provides for public announcement of the closed 
congregations in the official journal. The fifth i)r()vi(les for 
the closing of the effects of the institutions. The sixth repeals 
all laws to the contrary. Under this act private elementary 
and secondary instruction are restrained. It is a matter of 
interest meanwhile to remark that most of the schools closed 
by this act will open, even if they have not already opened, 
under a lay teaching body which is nothing more or less than 
the former personnel in secular garb. The closing of the con- 
gregations, however, resulted in bringing private education, 
elementary and secondary, under the jurisdiction of the state. 

An interesting study is being carried on by a commission of 
which M. Leon Bourgeois, former Minister of Education, is 
president, to inquire into the requirements and educational obli- 



1905] Educational progress of the year 145 

gations for abnormal children. The Commission is making^ 
an exhaustive investigation under the decree of October 4, 
1904, and is establishing fundamental propositions. 

It is difficult to characterize the various lines of evolution of 
instruction in France during recent years. Science profoundly 
impresses the department of teaching and demands services 
most important and profitable to the masses. This does not 
mean that the classical tradition has been abandoned or is to 
be retired in France in favor of research. French spirit still 
aims at the ideal and the development of the beautiful, and the 
pursuit of pure science has not ceased to be held in highest 
honor. The new plans for secondary instruction have invested 
the sciences, however, with new functions. M. Liard, vice- 
rector of the University of Paris, writes, " They will be the in- 
struments of culture." Letters will continue as in the past the 
tried instructors impossible to be supplanted, but in the domain 
of the positive sciences there will be more effective work than 
in the past. The sciences will be ranked by the French among 
the humanities. Again, in the words of M. Liard, " Our 
countrymen, who are beyond all an idealistic race and deduc- 
tive, have need of a great bath of realism. . . . On the whole 
the education of the French youth seems to have been too 
much directed to the abstract mathematics and not enough 
towards experimental science. Often the spirit of our race has 
led our students by bounds to the highest generalities at once to 
treat deductively all items of knowledge. It is necessary then 
that education thru the experimental sciences become experi- 
mental and inductive." 

Attention should be called to an item of interest to all which 
has frequently been overlooked. There have been established 
for some time frequent and profitable relations between the 
schools of France which are under the jurisdiction of the 
minister of public instruction and those of neighboring states. 
Foreigners are received as auxiliaries in the primary normal 
schools and in other establishments of secondary instruction. 
Reciprocally French teachers are sent to foreign schools, and 
this exchange, so advantageous from all points of view, is 
multiplying each year. 



146 Educational Review [September 

England 

The educational energy of England has been devoted en- 
' tirely to adapting the elementary and secondary schools to the 
provisions of the law of 1902. This law relates almost ex- 
clusively to the regular administration of schools, and the 
county councils, which became the local unit of supervision and 
administration, have assumed the power of the former boards 
with little friction, and with apparent success. The chief op- 
position to the law, as might have been anticipated from the 
great struggle which arose at the time of its passage, is in the 
application of local taxes to the support of church schools which 
remain substantially under private control. The necessity of 
accepting the conditions passively, as was predicted at the time 
of the passage of the act, has not been recognized, and the 
various religious sects outside of the established church have 
made a steady and firm resistance to the payment of taxes to be 
used for this purpose. Thousands of summonses have been 
issued by the courts to those refusing to pay the taxes, and un- 
less the law is amended in this particular much confusion is 
likely to arise. 

The administration of the new law is immensely superior 
to the procedure under the act of 1870, and if satisfactory ad- 
justment can be made of the religious question, both the ele- 
mentary and secondary schools will soon be on a highly satis- 
factory basis. The great distinction between American and 
English systems of elementary and secondary education is that 
the greater part of the money spent on education in England 
is derived from a central government grant supplanted by local 
taxes. As a result the central government exercises a pre- 
ponderating influence on all work done in the schools. One 
of the main excellencies of the law is the co-ordination of ele- 
mentary and secondary schools, which have heretofore worked 
independently of each other. 

In 1903 a new education law was passed for the City of 
London which practically extended to the city the principal 
features of the general law of 1902. The historic London 
School Board, which has made such a magnificent record in 



1905] Educational progress of the year 147 

the thirty-five years of its existence and whose influence has 
been felt thru the length and breadth of England, has 
practically brought its work to a close. The opposition to the 
application of the law to the City of London arose quite as 
much from the sentiment over the thoro work and mag- 
nificent record of the old Board as for any other reason, but it 
is almost the unanimous opinion that the present policy is much 
better adapted to the present needs of London's development. 

Sweden 

In May, 1904, the Swedish Riksdag decided upon a reform 
in regard to the secondary schools of Sweden, the most radical 
and important in their entire history. These schools are the 
direct continuation of the monastery, cathedral, and town 
schools, some of which have existed since the Middle Ages. 
As heretofore organized they have consisted of a continuous 
course of nine years, following a course of three years in the 
common schools. 

The change authorized divides the secondary schools into a 
lower Modern school of six years and a higher Gymnasium of 
four years. The gymnasium, however, is not a direct con- 
tinuation of the Modern school, but continues from its fifth 
class. The courses are based as before upon the three-year 
common-school course. The result of this change is that pupils 
have the option of taking the full six-year course of the Modern 
school, and if they are successful in the final examinations they 
are entitled to certain privileges such as being received as ap- 
prentices in the government telegraph or postal-service depart- 
ment. Coeducation is also allowed in these Modern schools 
and is important as being the first instance in which the govern- 
ment has authorized coeducational schools in secondary edu- 
cation. This decision was preceded by a very careful investi- 
gation of the results of coeducation particularly as conducted 
in the United States. 

The other option is to leave the Modern school at the end of 
the fifth year and take the four-year gymnasium course, mak- 
ing the complete course for the student nine years. The four- 
year gymnasiums are also of two kinds, the Latin gymnasium 



H8 - Educational Review [September 

and the Modern g-ymnasiiim, and both are concluded by an 
entrance examination which admits to the University. The 
main difference in the gymnasiums is that in the former an 
opportunity is given to study Greek. An innovation is also 
allowed in introducing electi\'e courses in the last two years of 
the gymnasium course. The most important change in the 
curriculum of the secondary schools is the abridgment of 
Latin and of Greek. Heretofore six years of Latin and four 
years of Greek have been given. LInder the present arrange- 
ment four years of Latin and two years of Greek are pre- 
scribed. The tendency to force the classical languages into 
the background has been quite marked, and the present pro- 
gram reduces the time for the study of Latin one-half from 
that in vo.gue thirty years ago. At that time, also, 75 per 
cent, of the pupils in the last four years of the gymnasium took 
Latin, while at the present time 47 per cent, take this subject. 
The most important administrative measure in connection 
with this reform of the secondary-school system is the estab- 
lishment of a Superior Board of fi\'e members who will man- 
age its affairs in place of the Ministry of Education and the 
Chapters of the Dioceses which have hitherto controlled them. 
Among the members of this board of five are the Hon. Carl von 
Friesen, head of the present Education Department ; Professor 
Ernst Carlson, principal of the higher secondary school of 
Gothenberg ; and Dr. N. G. W. Lagerstedt, recently the Royal 
Swedish Commissioner to the St. Louis Exposition. 

Germany 

The Imperial rescript of the Emperor, acting however as 
the King of Prussia, which took effect in 1902, is the principal 
event in the educational world of Germany during the last four 
years. By this decree the leaving certificates from the Gym- 
nasium, the Realgymnasium, and the Ober-realschulen were 
accepted for entrance to the university, a privilege heretofore 
enjoyed by the graduates of the Gymnasium alone. The Real- 
gymnasium has one classical language, Latin, and two modern 
languages, French and English ; the Ober-Realschulen has only 
. the modern languages. The similarity of this action to cer- 



1905] Educational progress of the year 149 

tain tendencies in this country can readily be perceived. Thus 
far only a few of the other Gennan states have shown any 
inclination to follow the example of Prussia, and the East Ger- 
man states have quite positively refused to order an equaliza- 
tion of the three kinds of institutions. The overwhelming in- 
fluence of Prussia in matters educational will in time un- 
doubtedly lead most of the states to similar action. 

The academic degree has, during the various evolutions of 
the German university, become of little practical importance, 
except to those who intend to devote themselves to an aca- 
demic career. It is possible to become a clergyman, a lawyer, 
a physician, or a teacher in high schools without possessing 
the baccalaureate degree. The large number of graduations 
which still take place every year under these conditions is 
accounted for by the consideration which the title enjoys in the 
public estimation and by the widespread partiality in Ger- 
many for titles in general. 

The time-honored compulsory-education laws of Prussia 
are now being more strictly enforced than ever, and in 1901 
out of a grand total of 5,754,000 children only 548 evaded at- 
tendance. 

Keen to observe the necessity of training young men for com- 
mercial service in the German colonies and in the consular ser- 
vice in all parts of the world, a series of commercial high schools 
has been established in the last few years which treat eco- 
nomic science from the practical and strictly scientific point of 
view. The Commercial High School in Leipzig, founded in 
1898, was the first institution of this kind, followed by the 
Municipal Commercial High. School in Cologne, founded in 
1900, and the Academy of Social and Commercial Science 
founded in Frankfort-on the-Main in 1901. The magnificent 
exhibit of these schools at the St. Louis Exposition is too re- 
cently in the minds of this audience to need extended com- 
ment. 

Agricultural schools of various grades, including farming 
schools and agricultural winter schools, have grown with the 
utmost rapidity over the entire Empire. At the end of 1903 
the schools of this class aggregated 256. Nearly all are sub- 



1 50 F.ducational Review [September 

sidized by the State or receive incomes from the provisional 
district and commune funds. 

Belgium 

There have been no new laws of importance in Belgium 
concerning primary instruction, with the exception of a 
general increase in the salaries of teachers. The measures 
wliich liave been undertaken by the administration have all 
tended toward the practical realization of what is considered 
in Belgium the imperatixe law of modern pedagogy, I'ecole 
pour la vie. which may be liberally translated as school training 
for the necessary work of life. To insure the introduction of 
this essential reform the central government has made four 
matters, or objective points, the subject of legislative measures 
and decrees. 

( 1 ) The thoro inspection of the curriculum on the part of 
the government. 

(2) Creation of technical courses designed to meet local 
needs. 

(3) Instruction and preparation of teachers in educational 
methods adapted to the future condition of pupils in profes- 
sional life. 

(4) Increase of work in social education. 

One of the strongest means of securing the great results 
achieved in this method of education has been to enlist the aid 
of teachers in preparing dissertations for the general pedagogic 
conferences. The problems, which every teacher is compelled 
to solve, consist of the obligatory assembling of documents 
and materials necessary in laying out their lessons and in apply- 
ing them to the course of instruction established by the 
government. The value of this collection, as exhibited by Bel- 
gium last year at St. Louis, is without parallel as a collection of 
historical educational documents and it forms the groundwork 
of concerted action in every part of the kingdom in the adminis- 
tration of primary education. Last year the government di- 
rected that each school send in treatises, statements, and collec- 
tions upon a series of cjuestions all of which are now being ex- 
ploited at the Exposition at Liege. This work is considered of 



1905] Educational progress of the year 151 

the highest importance from tlie point of view of the ultimate 
preparation of the teaching staff, inasmuch as the collections 
in their educative power are so much greater as they have 
been made by the teacher aided by his pupils, and are composed 
of elements selected by them and by him from the territory 
of their own community and in the different workshops of 
their own locality. 

The secondary education of Belgium has recently been care- 
fully devoted to introducing into the instruction a spirit more 
practical and more businesslike and to systematic efforts to 
attract the children of the middle classes towards commercial 
careers in arts, industries, and trades. This tendency is mani- 
fested principally by the creation of new commercial sections in 
a certain number of secondary schools as well as under the 
ministerial decree of July 30, 1904. remodeling the program 
for instruction in drawing in the royal athenjeums and the 
secondary schools of the kingdom. In the higher secondary 
schools with the same idea in view, and under the decree of 
September of the same year, modifications in the course in 
mathematics and commercial sciences have been authorized. 
The teaching of -commercial accounting and of commercial 
arithmetic has received a new practical form, more complete 
and more in accordance with actual necessities. The Belgian 
government is neglecting none of the factors which can con- 
tribute, either in primary or secondary education, to a training 
for I'ecole pour la vie. On the other hand, it is important not 
to lose sight of the fact that public instruction ought not only 
to be directed in a national sense towards the needs of its own 
country, but at the same time towards matters concernfng for- 
eign nations in a way to sustain business relations with other 
countries and to develop their economic condition. With this 
particularly in view, a course in economic geography and the 
more thoro study of the English and German languages 
has been introduced into the curriculum. 

In higher education there has been established in the Uni- 
versity of Liege the degree of Geological Engineer by decree 
of August 24, 1900, with the design of procuring engineers 
with a geological knowledge more complete than has resulted 



152 Educational Review [September 

from study in the technical schools, and to furnish the equip- 
ment demanded by the development of scientific mining. The 
degree of Doctor of Arts and Archaeology has also been estab- 
lished at Liege at the end of a course more complete than any 
that now exists either in Europe or America. This was es- 
tablished in 1903. The University of Gand established last 
November the degree of Engineer of Naval Construction, the 
first course in which will not be completed till the end of the 
academic year 1905-6. There have also been established in 
the two universities of Gand and Liege the degree of Licencie 
in Commercial Science and in Commercial and Consular 
Science. These have for their object the giving of a technical 
preparation to young men who are fitting themselves for com- 
mercial and industrial vocations, and particularly for con- 
sular careers. The University of Louvain has set up a School 
of Commerce and Consular Science and includes in its course 
of study a curriculum preparatory to a Doctorate in Geographi- 
cal Science. The L^niversity of Brussels has opened a school 
of Commerce, which confers the degree of Engineer of Com- 
merce. Both the universities of Louvain and Gand have es- 
tablished technical schools since 1900 and during the last few 
years the curriculums of both universities have been enriched 
by numerous chairs, among which are to be specially noted 
those of Oriental Literature, Egyptology, Assyriology, and 
many modern languages, chiefly Oriental. It has been a period 
of the utmost activity in university circles, and the efforts of 
the government in establishing faculties which shall meet 
literary and scientific demands of modern years has been ef- 
fectively supplemented by private benefactions and founda- 
tions. 

Japan 

The educational system of Japan has moved along steadily 
under the Imperial Ordinance published in 1886, relating to 
universities, normal schools, elementary schools, and middle 
schools. The changes made since that time have been in the 
line of amendments, but the general features remain the same 
as then prescribed. Among the chief points of this revision 
were the establishment of the University Hall for research ex- 



1905J Educational progress of the year 153 

chisively in connection witli the Imperial University; in the 
normal schools, the expenses of the pupils were to be paid by 
the schools and the subjects of study and the standard to be 
attained were prescribed by the Mniister of State for Educa- 
tion ; the expenses of the elementary schools were chieiiy to be 
paid out of the tuition fees ; the higher middle schools were 
established to prepare pupils for the University and also to give 
them professional education; the number of ordinary middle 
schools to be established in Fu and Ken (civil divisions cor- 
responding to French prefectures) was limited to one for each. 
In 1890 the Imperial Ordinance revised the provision re- 
lating to elementary schools. By this revision the people were 
placed under obligation to send their children to school till 
they completed the ordinary elementary-school course of three 
or four years. In the famous speech made in 1890 the Em- 
peror decreed that all instruction should be in line of fostering 
moral sensibility and the practical performance of human du- 
ties should be considered the chief object of elementary 
education ; and that the spirit of loyalty and patriotism should 
especially be awakened. In 1893 regulations relating to sup- 
plementary schools for technical instruction were issued. In 
1899 the Imperial Ordinance for the middle schools was re- 
vised, and among c^her things the limit of the number of these 
schools to be established in a civil district was removed. In 
the same year an Imperial decree urged upon the local authori- 
ties the establishment of higher schools for girls, and the local 
corporations, or town or village school-unions, were author- 
ized to provide for such schools. In the year 1900 an Im- 
perial Ordinance again revised the elementary-school code and 
abolished entirely the minimum three-year course. In view of 
obligatory attendance tuition fees were abolished and many 
changes made in the time and extent of the subjects pursued. 
In fhe same year also the medical departments of higher schools 
were reorganized under the name of Special Schools for Medi- 
cine. In 1903 an Imperial Ordinance prescribed regulations 
for special schools in which instruction is given in higher 
courses of arts and sciences. For the purpose of alleviating 
the burdens of higher education a special reserve for educa- 



J 54 Educational Review [September 

tional purposes, amounting to 10.000,000 yen. was set aside 
from the Chinese indemnity fund, the annual interest of which 
was to be distributed according to the proportion of children of 
school age attending during the previous year. In 1903 the 
total amount available for this distribution was 1,371,000 yen. 
Between 1900 and 1905 there has been marked increase in 
salaries paid teachers, and provisions have been made by the 
State for providing pensions to retired teachers. This pension 
is paid out of a special reserve fund establis'/.ed by each Ken 
and is formed by holding out one per cent, of the salaries of 
regular teachers. The National Treasury in addition grants a 
sum equal to one-half of the moneys paid by cities, towns, or 
villages. 

In April, 1903, a system of state text-books was introduced, 
copyrights being reserved by the Department of Education. 
All text-books, except those for morals, Japanese history and 
geography, and Japanese readers, may be selected by the local 
governor from among those which are copyrighted by the 
Department of Education, or adopted by the Minister of State 
for Education. The books excepted are prescribed by the 
government. 

A great advance has been made in the last few years in the 
matter of school equipment, and strict laws established as to 
the relative proportion of school grounds, school buildings, 
open-air gymnasiums, furnishing of dormitories, distance of 
school buildings from factories or unhealthy ground, size of 
classrooms, etc. 

The great demand for trained teachers led to the establish- 
ment in 1902 of i)rofessional teachers' training institutes under 
the control of the Imperial University, by which teachers for 
middle and normal schools should be trained in the shortest 
possible time. The course of study extends over two years and 
is divided into five distinct classes. Five of these institutes 
are in operation and the first class was graduated in 1904. 

A great advance has been made since 1900 in the establish- 
ment of higher schools including both those fitting for col- 
legiate courses and universities, but more particularly the tech- 
nical schools leading to technical and commercial industries 



1905] Educational progress of the year 155 

and agriculture. The traditional sentiment of the Japanese 
people formerly led young men to proceed to the university 
after finishing their course at the Middle school. The tre- 
mendous impulse given to industrial education after the Japan- 
China war has led the government to promote the establishment 
of industrial schools of various groups, and a strong tendency 
is now discernible among the young men to attend these 
schools. 

In the field of higher ed-ucation the establishment and growth 
of the Imperial University at Kyoto are most conspicuous, and 
at present it consists of a University Hall for original research 
and colleges of law, medicine, science, and engineering. 

The establishment of the Kyoto Higher Technical School 
in 1902 as a school of industrial fine arts, was designed to in- 
troduce improvements into art industries and to place Japan in 
the forefront of artistic nations. An important commission 
was appointed in 1902 under the title of the National Language 
Investigation Committee. One of the important functions of 
this committee is to examine the relative advantages of the 
Kana and the Roman characters if phonograms are to be sub- 
stituted for ideographs. In addition, the committee is dele- 
gated to recommend a simplification of the present style of 
writing and of the Kana orthography. 

Another important committee on the history of Japan, work- 
ing under the auspices of the University of Tokyo, has nearly 
completed its work, and the materials gathered are now being 
published under the name of " Japanese historical materials " 
and " Old Japanese documents." The total number of an- 
cient documents compiled by the committee numbers more than 
100,000. 

TENDENCIES 

Even so cursory a presentation of foreign educational 
features as is contained in this paper must impress the reader 
with the thought that education on the continent is becoming 
intensely practical. Almost every innovation or change of 
policy, in whatever country, has for its object the more thoro 
training of the youth for his future trade or occupation. The 
line of cleavage between the training of the many and the train- 



156 Educational Rcvieiu 

ing of the few, or between industrial training and cultural train- 
ing, is becoming more and more distinct, and what Belgium 
has long taken as the dictum of its own educational policy, may 
with equal correctness be applied to Europe in general, — I'ccole 
pour la zde. 

The history of education in the United States for the last 
century has shown it to be eminently practical, and peculiarly 
responsive to public demand. Its close relation and responsi- 
bility to the i)€ople preclude its taking any other form. It is 
not a thing apart from the public and for the benefit of a few 
as in the day of Egyptian priesthood, but rather is the instru- 
ment of the people in shaping the destiny of the country. 
Given, then, the trend of the development of this country, and 
there follows as its corollary the tendency of its education. 
The 20th century will be the scene of a struggle for commercial 
and industrial supremacy. The United States has entered 
this world conflict with all its energy, and the successes it has 
already gained have startled its competitors. The kind of 
education, therefore, of value to these changed conditions, and 
best likely to train our citizens for their future work, will be 
the kind of education to which our schools will perforce adapt 
themselves. These modifications fall naturally into three di- 
visions : education for commerce, education for trades and 
other industries, and education for agriculture. Our educa- 
tional leaders must solve the problem of how to adapt sufficient 
training in these lines to meet the demands of the age, and not 
destroy at the same time the balance which has been maintained 
in our curriculums with the more clearly cultural subjects, the 
broad and liberal training in which has been the source of our 
past strength and present power. This must not be sacrificed 
in the adjustment which must inevitably come, for to do so 
w'ould be t(j remove the corner stone of the edifice. 

Howard J. Rogers 

Albany, NT. V. 



H 214 /9 I 



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